One Last Summer
by EtheriumArt
Summary: Dipper, Mabel, and their new friend Jamie have finished high school, and spend their last summer in Gravity Falls. After all, the town is a safe place now that Bill can't terrorize it. He can't... right?
1. Chapter 1

"Mabel, I swear to God, if you touch that radio dial again I am going to superglue your hands to the dashboard," Dipper threatened, glaring angrily out the windshield into the darkness of the Oregon woods. As far as I could see, we were the only car for miles. The only things visible outside the old beat up minivan were the faint outlines of the edges of trees, illuminated by the glow of the yellow headlights.

"It's not my fault all this music _sucks_!" complained Mabel, crossing her arms and drawing her head down into her shoulders, her turtleneck coming up around her ears. "Forgive me for wanting to listen to something more tasteful."

"Tasteful?" I snorted. "Mabel, when you had control of the radio, we listened to Sev'ral Timez for two hours. If I hear another sickeningly cheerful song by a fake-ass boyband, I'm gonna puke," I snapped.

"Oh yeah?" Mabel retorted, whirling around to glare at me in the backseat. "All you and Dipper want to listen to is old people music and the news!"

"THAT'S ALL THAT'S ON!" shouted Dipper, clenching the steering wheel.

"Guys, guys, I have a solution," I said, bending over to get something out of my backpack. "I brought CDs."

"Thank the heavens," said Dipper, sighing in relief. Mabel gave me a suspicious side eye.

"Alright, so we got My Chemical Unromance, Twenty Two Pilots, Fallup Boy, Think About Dragons, Perturbed, Two Fisted Death Punch, and ooooh! Linkin Perk!" I said, going through my CDs.

"Do you have anything less cliche emo?" sassed Mabel, rolling her eyes.

"Well I do have Excitement! at the Party, but I'm guessing that's a bit too much for your tastes still, huh," I replied.

"I like them, they're fine," said Dipper.

"I don't," growled Mabel.

"Well we could always listen to-" Dipper began, but Mabel cut him off.

"If you say BABBA I am going to scream," she threatened.

"Wait, you have BABBA?" I asked. BABBA was one of those bands that I liked, but would never publicly admit to it. Disco Girl was my favorite of their songs. It was just so catchy!

Dipper turned from the driver's seat to give me this look of pure joy, the likes of which I hadn't seen before. "You like BABBA?" he asked.

"DIPPER! EYES ON THE ROAD!" I screeched, lunging forward and pointing.

"Sorry!" he exclaimed, and whirled around. "Favorite BABBA song?" he asked tentatively, after a moment.

"Okay, don't laugh," I said, embarrassed.

"I won't, I promise," said Dipper.

"Disco Girl."

"NO WAY ME TOO!" he shouted. "That's it, I'm playing it."

"NOOOOOO! GOD HAVE MERCY!" wailed Mabel, throwing up her hands and putting her head down on the dashboard of the car. Dipper ignored her protests, and soon the car was filled with the sound of the Icelandic girl group's best song.

When the song was over, Mabel flopped back in the seat. "You guys are the worst," she complained.

I walked into class for the first time. My family had made me move halfway through my senior year, halfway across the country for their new jobs. I looked down at the schedule in my hands. My guide for the week (that was something this school did for new students) was named Mason Pines, and he was in my homeroom.

I slid into the seat next to him. His nose was buried in a really old looking book, and he had a blue and white hat on.

"Hi Mason," I sid. No response. "Mason?" Again, nothing. "Mason Pines? Mason Pines? MASON PINES?" Jesus, was this kid deaf? "PINES!" I shouted.

He let out a sound that was a cross between a yelp and a scream, accidentally throwing the book in the air. He turned to look at me with a sheepish look on his face.

"Hi," he said. "You must be Jamie. It's nice to meet you."

"You're Mason, right? It's nice to meet you too!" I replied.

"Well, my name is Mason, but no one ever calls me that," he said. "Everyone calls me Dipper."

"Dipper?"

"Dipper."

"Huh."

"Yeah. That's why I didn't respond when you called me Mason. Literally the only people who ever call me that are my parents when they're mad at me," he explained, gesturing with his hands.

"Oh okay, sorry Dipper," I said.

"It's alright, you didn't know." He picked his book back up and kept reading it.

"What book is that?" I asked. It had a number three written in an embossed six fingered hand on the cover, and was bound in what looked like maroon leather.

"It's a journal," he said. "I've had it for years."

I leaned over his shoulder to get a look. It was full of what looked like field notes on… cryptids! "YOU LIKE CRYPTIDS!?" I exclaimed.

"Uhhh…" he said, sounding somewhat unsure. "Yeah. A lot."

"Me too!" I cried. "What's your favorite?"

"Hm," he said, stroking his chin. "I made friends with this thing called a Multibear once. I'd have to go with that."

That was… weird. He wasn't lying. See, I have this weird ability where if I spend some time around a person, I can learn their tell for lying really quickly. And I can always tell when someone is lying, no matter what. And Dipper Pines was not lying. "You're… you're not lying," I said, giving him a peculiar look.

"Why would I be?" he asked, as the bell rang and class commenced.

"Hey, Jamie!" I heard Dipper's voice, and felt a hand shaking my shoulder. "You fell asleep in the car. We're here! At the Mystery Shack!"

I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. "I'm in Gravity Falls?"

"Yep!" chirped Mabel. "Jamie Birch, welcome to Gravity Falls, Oregon!"

Dipper had to help me out of the car, because I was so unsteady on my legs. When I get tired, my body forgets how to function to the point where I look and sometimes act drunk.

"I am so fu-"

"Language," Dipper warned. "I don't want Soos to kick you out."

"I am so… _frickin_ ' tired," I complained, one arm draped over Dipper's shoulders.

"Yeah, well you didn't drive the whole way," laughed Dipper, supporting my body weight and walking me into the Mystery Shack.

"Yeah, well I offered to help with the driving!" said Mabel. "But you refused!"

"That's because I value life," I said.

"You're a terrible driver," Dipper said to her.

She was about to protest, but let out a huge yawn instead. "I'm going into the attic to sleep," she said.

"Yeah, me too. We can unload the minivan tomorrow," said Dipper. "Oh, Jamie, Grunckle Stan said you can have the spare room."

"Okay!" I chirped, sounding more awake than I felt.

I got settled in the spare room, and was lying in bed. The lights were off, and the only thing I could see was the four squares of silver moonlight on my floor from the window. The house was silent and still… and WHAT WAS THAT?

I sat bolt upright in bed. It sounded like something dragging its nails over the window. I glanced suspiciously at the glass, but saw nothing. I layed back down, attributing the sound to my own overactive imagination and the unfamiliar room.

Just as I was about to drift off to sleep, I heard it again. I sat bolt upright in bed. That's it. There's no way in hell I'm sleeping alone.

I threw the covers off my legs and slid out of bed. Grabbing my phone, I turned on the flashlight setting and quietly walked across the room, pillow under one arm and blanket thrown over my shoulder. Opening the door, I crept into the hallway, up the stairs, and into the attic. I knocked on the door.

It was Mabel who answered. "Jamie?" she asked, through a clear retainer. "What's wrong?"

"I can't sleep," I said. "This place freaks me out at night."

"Let her in," I heard Dipper say, his voice muffled probably by his pillow.

"Yay, sleepover!" cheered Mabel.

I shuffled into the room, tossed my pillow on the floor, and rolled up in my blanket. I fell asleep quickly, in the moonbeam that shone through the triangular stained glass window, the one that depicted the Eye of Providence.


	2. Chapter 2

"Jamie! Jamie, wake up!" I felt a hand on my shoulder, shaking me awake.

"Huh?" I said, sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

Dipper was sitting on the floor next to me. "You're gonna miss breakfast," he said. "And you don't want that, trust me."

"Alright, I'm getting up," I laughed, working my way to my feet. "What time is it?"

"Eight in the morning," he said. "I'm normally not up this early, but Mabel woke me. She's always up before dawn."

"Me too," I said. "I'm surprised I woke up so late."

I followed him down the stairs, to where the Pines family was eating breakfast. There were pancakes on the table , and Dipper followed my gaze.

"Don't," he warned. "Stan made those. Eat cereal."

"What's the matter with them?" I asked.

"Those are what he calls Stan-cakes. He's not a sanitary dude, so there might be some of his hair in it," Dipper explained.

"Ewww," I said. "Cereal it is."

Stan looked up. "Hey, it isn't my problem you don't appreciate my cooking. I work hard, y'know."

"Yeah, to cheat people out of their money," coughed who I assumed was Grunkle Ford, into his cup of coffee.

"WHY YOU LITTLE-" Stan began, standing up, which rocked the table.

"GRUNKLE STAN NOT NOW!" screeched Mabel.

Ah, the sounds of morning.

I walked into Hoo Haw's to get some food. Dipper had said this place had good prices, despite their lack of good food. He also said that the staff was really nice, so that's why I was in here. Man, I hadn't been in a Hoo Haw's since I was really young.

I sat down at a table and idly watched the kids running around.

Suddenly I heard someone say, "Hi, can I get you anything?"

I looked up to see one of the most physically beautiful people I've ever seen. He was about 5'9", with black hair in a long-ish stylish crew cut. His face was nearly perfectly symmetrical, and his nose was kind of small, which was really cute. He was super pale, with a faint smattering of freckles on his cheeks, and his eyes were a faint yellow. He had a lot of piercings; snakebite lip piercings, piercings all the way up both ears, his right eyebrow was pierced, and he had a really cool looking septum ring. He was wearing skinny jeans, black combat boots. He had on a black hoodie instead of the Hoo Haw's shirt, but he did indeed wear an apron.

"Oh, can I get some pizza?" I asked.

"Sure thing," he said, flashing me a big smile.

Wait a second. Did he have… pointed teeth? I knew people in this town were weird… but getting your teeth filed? That's a bit extreme.

About fifteen minutes later, he came back with my food. "Thank you," I said.

"You're welcome!" he chirped. He turned to walk away.

"Hey wait!" I called. He turned. "I don't know anyone and I feel pathetic eating alone… would you like to sit with me?"

"Sure!" he chirped. "Just let me go take my break!" He ducked into the kitchen, and reappeared moments later. He slid into the seat across from me. "I don't know if I've introduced myself. I'm Greg," he said, extending his hand for me to shake.

"I'm Jamie," I replied, shaking his hand. "It's nice to meet you, Greg."

"You too! So, what brings you to Gravity Falls? I can tell you're not from around here," he said.

"Visiting with friends," she said. "The Pines."

"Dipper and Mabel?" he asked, cocking his head. He must've noticed my slightly concerned face, because he said, "Oh, I have a very good memory, and you hear a lot of gossip as a waiter. The Pines family is quite a topic here in Gravity Falls. How did you come to know the younger twins?"

"Oh, we went to high school together," I replied.

Greg nodded. Suddenly, his phone went off. He looked down at his lap, and started laughing.

"What?" I asked, leaning forward.

"It's Todd. He sent me the most hilarious video of my cat," he said, spinning the phone around for me to see. A black cat was climbing super spy style across a sliding screen door. "Hex does that when he wants inside."

"Awe, how cute!" I chirped, taking a bite of my pizza.

Suddenly, I heard a voice from the kitchen call, "GLADE! QUIT FLIRTING WITH THAT GIRL AND GET YER ASS BACK IN THIS KITCHEN! YOUR BREAK IS UP!"

Greg rolled his eyes. "Aaaand that's my cue. I'll hopefully see you later?"

I nodded. "I'll airdrop you my contact info!" I pulled out my phone and proceeded to do just that.

"Thanks! Be seeing you!" he chirped, as he got up and walked back into the kitchen.

I sat back in the booth and finished my pizza. Good God, he was hot.

Out in the forest, a teenager broke away from his tourist group. Wandering through the woods in Gravity Falls alone was risky business, but this kid had ignored all warnings. He didn't believe in the Hide-Behind, he didn't believe in ghosts.

He came upon a small clearing. Towards one side he noticed something that appeared to be a large, oddly shaped stone. He walked closer to find that it was a statue. However, it was unlike any statue the young man had ever seen before. It looked like the triangle thing with the one dollar bill, and had a bow tie and top hat. The statue was extending one hand, as if to shake someone's hand in a greeting.

The kid chuckled and shook the stone triangle's hand. As soon as his skin made contact with the stone, a shockwave went through him. Everything stood still; the trees stopped swishing in the breeze, the birds hung frozen in the air. The color leached out of everything, and when the young man looked down at the stone triangle, it was gone.

All he could hear was maniacal laughter.


	3. Chapter 3

I sat on my bed, blanket draped over my shoulders as I wrote at a furious speed in the maroon leather journal.

"C'mon, bro bro, you have to go outside eventually!" Mabel complained, tugging out my shirt.

"Screw off," I muttered, chewing on the end of my pen. Suddenly, the foul taste of ink filled my mouth. Crap, I'd chewed through another one. "BLEGH!" I exclaimed, spitting out the pen and grabbing a towel to wipe my mouth on.

"Serves you right, Dip Dop," she said, not letting go of my sleeve. "Get your ass off of your bed, c'mon!"

"Can't you see I'm working, Mabel?" I snapped, shaking the broken pen at her.

"UGH," she groaned. "Summer is for meeting hot guys and being carefree! Not locking up in our rooms and doing _work_ ," she complained.

"If you find any hot guys, send them my way," I snarled. "But right now I'm working."

"You're boring, Poindexter."

"Are you serious? That's Ford's nickname."

"YEAH WELL IT APPLIES, YOU BORE," she complained.

I looked up. "I'm not that boring," I protested weakly. Even I didn't totally believe that. I looked back down at the journal and scribbled a doodle of the creature I had seen in the woods yesterday.

"Oh, is that a new one?" she asked.

I nodded. "I call it the headless high tailer," I said.

"Why?"

"Because it doesn't have a head and it ran away from me," I replied. A little boring, but I can only be so creative.

Suddenly the door flung open and Jamie ran into the room. She launched herself onto my bed, nearly causing me to mess up what I was writing. "JAMIE!" I protested, trying desperately not to ruin my nice pen lines.

"Whoops, sorry Fun Dip," she said.

"Where've you been?" I asked, putting down my pen.

"Oh, _now_ you put down your work?" Mabel griped. "How about five minutes ago when I wanted to hang out?"

"I went to the mall and got some pizza at Hoo Haw's," Jamie said. "And I met a really cute waiter."

I grinned. "The emo one with the lip piercings?" I asked.

She nodded fervently. "He's super nice, too!"

"You met Greg? Greg is so dreamy!" squealed Mabel. "Every time I see him, I flirt with him, but he never seems to notice," she said, pursing her lips and looking slightly crestfallen.

"Either that, or he's just not interested," I pointed out.

"IMPOSSIBLE," declared Mabel. "I AM IRRESISTIBLE! IRRESISTIBLE, I TELL YOU!"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, to gnomes and mermen."

"I… have so many questions," said Jamie, "that I'm not even going to begin to ask."

"You… want to come with us?" I asked, pausing, binder in hand.

Jamie nodded as she finished packing up her backpack. "You guys sound like you have so much fun, and my mom's going on a business trip, so it's just going to be me, alone, for half the summer. You and Mabel are like the only people I know, so I'm gonna be bored if you're gone. I told Mom that you guys were going to Oregon, and she said that if I wanted to go away for the summer too, I could."

I rubbed my chin. "I'd have to take it up with Mabel…" I said. "I normally spend the summer with her."

"Oh, I wouldn't be in your hair or anything!" she said. "And it's okay if you don't want me to come, I can always find another trip."

"It'd be fun," I mused. "We could go on monster hunts. Mabel's never into them, so I usually end up going on them alone or going with my Grunkle Ford. It'd be nice to finally go with someone my own age, who's actually interested in what we're doing."

She smiled at me. "I look forward to it."

After school, I intercepted Jamie before she got in her car. "JAMIE!" I called, running to catch up with her. "Jamie!"

She turned around. "What is it, Dipper?"

"I talked to Mabel, and she said if you want to come you can!" I exclaimed.

Her face lit up. "Seriously?" she cried. "Dude, that's so great! I can't wait, oh my gosh!"

We heard footsteps on the stairs leading up to the attic, and Grunkle Ford poked his head into the room. We stopped talking and looked at him.

"Hello, Mr. Pines!" chirped Jamie.

"Hello, Jamie," he replied, smiling. "I was just wondering if you kids wanted to go do some research? I heard some townsfolk talking about a creature in the woods last night. Wanna check it out tonight?"

Jamie and I looked at each other with expressions of pure elation. "OF COURSE!" we shouted in unison.

"So, where exactly did you say they saw the creature, Mr Pines?" Jamie asked Grunkle Ford, as the three of us walked through the darkened woods. It was about an hour after sundown, and I hated walking through the forest at night. All sorts of weird shit could be lurking in the shadows, and you would never know. At least I wasn't alone; I had that to console me.

"Please, call me Ford," he chuckled. "I overheard Lazy Susan telling Mr. Corduroy about some shadowy creature patrolling the woods last night. Apparently this creature has been sighted a number of times. I asked her for a description later, and sketched what she told me it looked like," he replied, handing her a journal.

When her eyes got wide, I tapped her shoulder. "Lemme see," I implored. She pushed the journal over to me. The creature that Ford had drawn was terrifying. It was long and gangly, and he had colored it in all black, save for two yellow glowing eyes. It had eight horns, and sharp claws. It appeared to be grinning an unsettling demonic smile, its mouth filled with horrifyingly sharp teeth. "What in the name of God is that thing?" I asked Ford, looking up in horror.

Ford shrugged. "Beats me. But we're going to find it."

Jamie and I exchanged a look. I'd seen a lot in my summers in this town, but she hadn't. A monster hunt for something this scary was a bit much for a beginner.

We set up camp where people had reported the most sightings. While Ford was fiddling with the equipment, I went into the screen to talk to Jamie.

"Hey, Jamie?" I asked, sitting down next to her. She looked up from her phone.

"What is it, Fun Dip?" she asked.

"Are you okay with this?" I inquired nervously.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"Well it's just… we're usually never after anything this scary."

She looked off to the side. "I will admit this is a bit more than I anticipated, but I'm not opposed to it," she said.

"Okay, good," I said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Good news, the equipment is working just fine!" Ford said, poking his head into the screen. He came inside. "Now all we have to do is watch and wait."

For the next half hour, we did just that. It was a bit boring, to tell the truth. Jamie and I mostly played on our phones while Ford read a book.

Suddenly, Ford put his book down, and picked up the handheld monitor. "What is it?" I asked, and he shushed me.

"It's picking something up," he hissed. Jamie and I put down our phones, and shuffled over to where he was sitting. We looked over his shoulders to see the monitor. The little meter on it was waving all around.

"It's paranormal," I hissed. "We're dealing with a ghost."

"Or a demon," replied Ford, "but it's probably a ghost, you're right."

Suddenly, Jamie tensed up. We both turned to look at her with questioning expressions. "I don't know how I know this," she began, "but that thing is outside."

I used one finger to part the blind, and the three of us looked through the small opening I had made. We saw it standing in the clearing, and it was even more terrifying than Ford's drawing.

It stiffened, and turned around, letting us get a good look at its glowing yellow eyes. "You can't hide," it said. "I know you're there."

"Not a ghost, not a ghost, not a ghost!" I whisper screamed.

I looked over at Jamie, who was sitting completely still. Her eyes had this odd look to them. Not until later, when not in the heat of the moment, would I realize that they had been glowing a solid green. She was muttering something under her breath, something that was decidedly not English.

"You're not the first to try and find me, Pines," he said. Yes, he, the sound of his voice was decidedly male. "Nor will you be the last. However, you should not pry more than you have already. I don't want to get… violent."

"He knows our names," Ford said, with a gulp.

"I suggest you leave," the shadow-thing said. "And don't come try to find me again."

"What do we do now, Great Uncle Ford?" I whispered to him.

He looked at me, wide eyed, and grabbed my wrist. He reached over and grabbed Jamie's wrist, but she was unresponsive. "On my signal, RUN!"

He pulled us out of the screen and began running as fast as we could back to the shack. Jamie seemed to regain lucidity, and ran as fast as she could without question.

When we finally got back to the shack, none of us slept well, each having our own nightmares, haunted by the figure we saw.


	4. Chapter 4

I got the immediate, disconcerting sense that I was not alone. I, however, appeared to be alone, in a vast expanse of white nothingness.

" **Oh, you're not alone sweetheart,"** I heard a voice say from behind me. I immediately got the sense that I knew this voice like I knew my own body, but at the same time it was so alien and foreign, and I knew I was hearing it for the first time.

I turned around. Behind me there was a…. Wait what the heck? He appeared to be a yellow triangle of sorts, with a top hat and bow tie. He had one eye, and was reclining on a comfy looking chair. He looked like the Eye of Providence from the one dollar bill.

" **The name's Bill,"** he said. " **Bill Cipher. And you, Jimbo- can I call you that? Ah, what the heck, I'm calling you that. You, Jimbo, have piqued my interest."**

"What, why?" I asked.

" **Here kiddo, have a seat!"** Bill said, and a chair appeared underneath me.

I sat down. "Why have I piqued your interest?" I asked.

" **You're not a normal kid, Jimbo. You can do things other kids can't, you know that right?"**

"I'm a normal eighteen year old," I said, shrugging.

" **Oh yeah? Were you normal when you encountered that creature in the forest?"** Bill countered, shaking a finger at me.

I thought back on it. I didn't remember anything after getting the sense that the creature was in the clearing. The next thing I remember was running through the woods behind Grunkle Ford and Dipper.

He laughed, an annoying sound like a demonic Spongebob. Not nearly as irritating though, which was good. " **Yeah, that's it, now you're remembering, Jimbo. Or should I say, not remembering?"** He hopped out of the chair and floated around my head. " **Y'know, kiddo, you and I have a lot more in common than you think."**

"I don't know you that well, and I don't think you know me," I retorted.

" **Of course I know you! You're Jamie Birch, best friend of Dipper and Mabel Pines! And I know the Pines family very very well, you see. We go way back; old friends y'know,"** Bill explained. " **The longer you stay in this messed up town, the more you'll discover who you really are. Don't forget that, Birch Tree,"** he said, cackling and fading from view.

I awoke with a start, and sat bolt upright in my bed in the spare room downstairs. I shuddered. That was a horrible dream, and I didn't want to be alone in this room anymore. I looked out the window to check if it was still night and sure enough, it was.

"Ugh, shit," I muttered. I glanced over at the clock, and saw that it was 1:30 in the morning. Mother of God. I dragged my ass out of bed, taking my pillow and blanket with me. Tromping up the stairs, I made my way to the attic. I didn't even bother to knock in the twins' door, I knew they were asleep. It wasn't a guess. Somehow I just knew they were.

I opened the door and closed it behind me quietly, then I set up my pillow and blanket on their floor, and promptly fell back asleep.

I woke up before the sun, which wasn't unusual for me. Both the twins were still asleep, so I decided to leave the room, as to not wake them. I took my pillow and blanket with me, and went downstairs to make breakfast.

I tied my blanket around my shoulders like a fuzzy cape, and set on making waffles. Ever since culinary class in high school, I had an internalized recipe book, which really came in handy. A lot.

The sun began to stretch its golden fingers over the mountains to the east, and the warm morning light streamed through the cool morning forest. The sunlight lit up my back as I put on a pot of coffee, and I smiled. This was nice.

"Good morning, Jamie," I heard Mabel's usually cheerful voice, now heavy with sleep, say.

"Good morning, Mabes, would you like some coffee?" I asked.

"You bet," she said, and I poured her a mug. She sat down at the table and began to drink it. I joined her as one of the waffles cooked. The timer would go off when it was done cooking. We sipped on coffee and sat in comfortable silence.

"So," I began, breaking the silence after a while. "What's the order of people waking up, usually?" I took a long sip of coffee.

"Usually I get up first at around 5:30 to 6:00," Mabel said, getting up to add creamer to her coffee. She sat back down and added sugar as well. "Then Grunkle Ford about 6:00 to 6:30. Grunkle Stan is almost always awake between 7:00 and 8:00, but it can take until noon to drag Dipper out of bed," she explained.

"Seriously?" I laughed. "He sleeps until noon?"

She shrugged. "He stays up until like 3:00 doing stupid nerd stuff, like working on that new set of journals with Grunkle Ford.

"What do you mean, 'new' set of journals?" I asked, wrapping my blanket cape about my shoulders tighter.

"The original three got destroyed when Dipper and I were twelve," she explained. "When summer was over and Dipper and I had to go back home to Piedmont, our Grunkles went sailing the world in search of new mysteries, and made a new set of journals. They left the management of the shack to Soos, but they were back and running it again after a year and a half," she explained. "They came back for summer, because we came back, but left again when we home."

I nodded. "So that's the work your brother has been going on about. Hes recreating the journals with Grunkle Ford."

She nodded. "What about you? What are your parents doing this summer?"

"Well… it's just my mom and I, y'know," I said.

"Oh right," she said. "I'm sorry, I can't believe that slipped my mind."

"It's fine," I said. "My mother was going on a business trip to somewhere in Colorado, and I needed a place to go," I explained. "I don't know if Dipper had fully explained the situation to you or not."

Mabel shook her head. "Not really. Well, he might've. Sometimes I do tune him out, I'll admit," she chuckled.

I chuckled along with her. It was true, Dipper could be long winded; asking him for advice or for an explanation of something was going to get you a fifteen minute lecture or longer. He did not keep things short and sweet.

"Good morning," I heard Grunkle Ford say, coming up from the basement.

"I made coffee," I said, gesturing with my head.

"Good morning, Grunkle Ford!" exclaimed Mabel. "You're up a little earlier than usual," she remarked after a moment.

Grunkle Ford shrugged, and poured himself a cup of coffee. He adjusted his glasses and took a sip. "I had a nightmare," he said. "I couldn't fall back asleep afterwards so I figured I'd just get up."

"You too, huh?" I asked, giving him a curious look. I wondered if the triangle thing had shown up in his dream too. I didn't ask him about it though, because I was so thoroughly disturbed by my dream that I didn't really want to think about it.

He nodded. "That… that _thing_ last night really put me on edge."

"What thing?" asked Mabel. "What did you guys see? When I asked Dipper about it, he just sort of turned pale and mumbled something incoherently."

I noticed the first journal, the one that Ford had drawn in, was lying on the table. I flipped it open to the page with the entry about the demon we had seen last night. "That," I said, sliding the book towards Mabel. "That is what we saw last night."

Her eyes grew wide and she looked up at me. "Holy shit," she said. "Did it say anything?"

I shrugged. "I don't remember," I said. "I blacked out."

"He told us to leave," said Ford. "And that's what we did."

"You didn't have any nightmares last night, did you?" I asked Dipper, as we went walking through the woods, looking for pegasi hoof prints.

"Not more than the usual," Dipper replied, looking behind a fallen tree. "No luck over here, let's keep looking." After a moment he asked, "Why do you ask?"

"Ford and I both had… wait a minute, what do you mean 'not more than the usual'? Do you have nightmares every night?" I asked, stopping dead in my tracks.

He turned around to look at me, shrugging. "Not every night, but most nights, yeah. I've had frequent nightmares ever since I was twelve."

"What!?"

"Yeah, ever since I came here," he said. "There's something about this town."

Oh, so he was being a conspiracy theorist. "Ooo, Illuminati confirmed," I joked, holding my fingers in a triangle over my right eye.

Dipper let out a yelp and dropped Journal 1, scrambling backwards. He tripped over a root and landed on his ass, where he sat, chest heaving. "Please, don't do that again," he said, hiding his eyes under the brim of his hat. "Please."

"Relax man, it was a joke," I said, crouching down to where he was sitting on the ground and reaching out to rest my hand on his upper arm.

He yanked his arm away as if he'd been burned. "Sorry," he said, after he realized he'd pulled his arm away. "Sorry. I know. I know you meant well."

"Who… who hurt you?" I asked, resting my hand over his. This time, he didn't pull away.

"That… that's a long story," he said, still refusing to meet my eyes.

"I got all day," I said, not unkindly.

So he told me everything, and I believed every word of it. However, I didn't tell him I knew Bill. I didn't need him to freak out again.

"So when I put my fingers over my eye…" I began, but trailed off.

"It reminded me of Bill," he said, finishing my sentence.

"Have you ever considered going to a therapist?" I asked gently. He could certainly benefit from one, there was no doubt about that.

"Therapist?" laughed Dipper, in a mirthless way, the sort of way that gave you a sick, hopeless feeling. "I can't go to a damn therapist. Trust me, I'd get put on meds that would make me forget my own name. I know I need one though. God, _God_ do I know I need one." He wouldn't look at me. Rather, he stared straight ahead into the dark woods, eyes reflecting the light from the flashlight. "It's just, how do you tell a therapist that the reason you're a seventeen year old with night terrors is because you were tortured by a demon at the age of twelve? That you've fought monsters that grown men run from? That you hear laughing every night, and it haunts you in the worst way possible? And that, despite all of that, you know for certain that you're perfectly sane. You're perfectly sane and it's that reality that scares you the most."

I didn't say anything. How could I? How do you respond to something like that? You can't. Instead, I reached over and laced my fingers through his, hoping he wouldn't mind. He gave my hand a gentle squeeze, and slumped against me, letting out a shuddering sigh.

I didn't need to worry him with news that I had seen Bill in my dream; it probably didn't mean anything. So I didn't tell him.


	5. Chapter 5

"Hi Greg," I said, walking into Hoo Haw's. The teen looked up from where he was wiping a table near me, and his face broke out into a pointy-toothed grin.

He straightened. "Hey Jamie!" he chirped, as I walked over and sat down at the table. "You don't want pizza, do you?" he chuckled.

I shook my head. "No, I came to hang out. Mabel is with Candy and Grenda, and I got bored of Dipper and Ford, so here I am!"

"What were they doing?" he asked.

"I wanted to play a game, but they were too busy geeking out over something that they didn't hear me," I explained, resting my head on my hands.

"What game?" asked Greg, finishing up wiping off the table and sliding into the seat across from me.

"Dungeons, Dungeons, and more Dungeons," I said, a bit sheepishly. "I found it in their game closet and was working on a character."

"Dude, I love that game!" exclaimed Greg. "I haven't played in age though."

"Dipper and Ford love it, apparently," I explained. "Mabel told me that they play it for hours."

"We'll have to plan a campaign and play sometime, the four of us," mused Greg, shuffling in his seat a little bit.

I nodded. "Yeah!" Just then, Greg sneezed. "Bless you," I said, offhandedly. It was an automatic reply.

I looked up to see Greg's eyes widen in fear and surprise, then turn solid yellow. Black smoke poured out of his mouth, nose, and ears, and he let out a demonic sounding hiss. I scrambled back in my chair, horrified.

When he appeared to have recovered, he buried his head in his hands. "Oh my god," he said, his voice muffled by his palms. "I am so, so, so sorry."

"WHAT THE HELL!?" I cried, getting up and backing away. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?"

He stood up, and approached me slowly. "Jamie-" he began, reaching out.

I yanked my arm away in fear. "Stop it, don't touch me!"

He stopped, and sighed. "I won't hurt you. I promise I won't hurt you."

I narrowed my eyes at him, apprehensive.

"God, that was so embarrassing," he said. "I hardly ever sneeze so I never run into that little problem."

"What 'little problem' was that!?" I asked, nervous.

"I'm… not human?" he said sheepishly, rubbing his neck and looking off to the side.

"That much is apparent," I snarked.

"Sit down and I'll tell you all about it," he said. So I sat. "Six hundred years ago," he began, "I was trapped in this dimension by someone whom I thought was my friend. My true form is much too conspicuous during the daytime, so I made this body and took on this form. Im actually a demon, see."

"You've been eighteen for six hundred years!?" I asked incredulously.

He chuckled. "Yeah, kind of. Only physically, really."

"How old are you really?" I asked, after a moment.

He shrugged. "A trillion? Two trillion? I don't know, because time is counted differently in every dimension. I'm older than this dimension, so therefore I'm older than your way of counting time."

"Holy shit," I said. "Holy…. Holy shit."

"If you want to know my birthday though, it's July 11th, 1410," he offered. "That's when I made this body, so that's what I tell people my birthday is."

"Hey, that's coming up!" I remarked. "You're gonna be… what, 607 years old?"

"Yea, that's exactly right," he chuckled. "Good math."

"I am not putting that many candles on your cake," I laughed, socking him playfully on the shoulder.

He smiled. "You could always use one of those sixtieth birthday candles and a seventh birthday candle," he chuckled, returning the playful punch. He grew distant for a moment; then his face broke out into a huge, razor sharp grin. "Booyah, I'm off in five!"

I was a little hung up on the fact that I just heard an immortal creature of darkness wearing an eighteen year old emo's body say 'booyah' before I realized that there was no clock in sight, and Greg wasn't wearing a watch. "How do you know that?" I asked him in disbelief.

He tapped his head. "Internal clock. Comes with being a member of the supernatural."

"Figures," I said, as Greg got up to clock out.

As Greg ducked into the kitchen, Dipper came walking in through the front door. He craned his neck, presumably looking for me. I waved, catching his attention, and he walked over.

"Hey, wanna go hunting for manticores?" he asked, a rebellious grin on his face.

I thought back to my elective on mythology I had taken out at the local community college last semester, trying to remember what a manticore was. Ah yes. Body of a lion, face of a man, bat wings, scorpion tail. I looked at him nervously. "Aren't manticores like… super dangerous? Why would we hunt something that ridiculously lethal?"

"Oh, sorry," he said, sliding into the seat across from me, the seat that Greg had been sitting in. "I didn't mean hunt. I meant track and observe." He pulled out the unfinished Journal 2. "You know, for research purposes."

I mulled it over briefly. "Sure," I said, after a moment. "I'll go."

"Go where?" I looked over to see Greg. He had shed his apron, and was wearing a black t-shirt, skinny jeans, and combat boots.

"Hunting for manticores," I explained.

"Sounds dangerous," mused Greg. "Could I come along? A group of three will be safer than a group of two."

Dipper shrugged. "I don't see why not, as long as you're up for it."

I looked between the two of them. "Wait, have you met?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.

Greg shook his head. "No we haven't. Where are my manners?" He stuck out his hand for Dipper to shake. As he did, I noticed a tattoo of a sword on the inner part of his right forearm. I hadn't noticed it before, but didn't say anything. "I'm Gregor Glade," he said, as Dipper accepted the hand.

"Dipper Pines," he replied.

"Oh, so _you're_ Dipper Pines!" exclaimed Greg. "You and your sister are the talk of the town, didja know?"

Dipper nodded sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I did know. Its embarrassing."

"Alright, enough chit chat," I laughed. "We got some manticores to find."

The three of us trekked through the forest in a somewhat single file line. Dipper walked in the front, I walked in the middle, and Greg brought up the rear. We were walking through a part of the forest that didn't get much traffic, I noticed. At least, not traffic from humans. Who can say about the forest life?

"Dip Dop, are you sure you know what you're looking for?" I inquired, tapping him on the shoulder.

Dipper looked up from the journal he was holding as we walked, snapping it shut with one hand. "Oh! Yes, of course I do," he said, reassuring me. "Grunkle Ford and I saw them last summer and I've been dying to get back out here."

Greg cleared his throat from behind me. "We've still got a ways to go if we're looking for manticores," he stated.

Dipper turned to give him an inquisitive look. "You know where to find mythical creatures?" he asked.

Greg shrugged. "Sure, I guess. I've been here for a while."

Dipper furrowed his brow, and nearly ran into a tree because he wasn't looking where he was going. I grabbed his vest and yanked him back before he could hurt himself. He let out a yelp of alarm, then turned and thanked me. After he recovered and we continued walking, Dipper said, "I don't know you, and I know just about everyone."

Greg shrugged, something that Dipper couldn't see him do because he was behind the boy in front, and said, "Well, I've been here since last September."

"Well that would make sense why you don't know him," I said. "He came right after you left."

"Mm," said Dipper in acknowledgement. "Speaking of which, what drew you here?"

"N-nothing, I guess," said the demon behind me. Did Dipper know he was a demon? If not, did he suspect anything? "I just needed a change of pace. I move around a lot."

"I suppose that's an acceptable answer," laughed Dipper. Suddenly, Dipper halted straight in his tracks. I didn't see, so I bumped right into him. Greg, however, didn't bump into me, which meant that he also saw or heard whatever Dipper did. "Do you hear that?!" hissed Dipper.

"Yes," hissed Greg.

I craned my neck and listened as hard as I could. Suddenly I heard it, and I couldn't believe I hadn't heard it before. It was big, it was heavy, and whatever it was, it was heading straight for us.

Ahead of us, in a burst of pine needles and broken bits of trees as the titanic creature smashed its way through the forest, a manticore the size of a bull elephant came charging out of the woods from our right.

It roared, and before we could even react, swiped one giant paw at Dipper and I, throwing us backward into a tree. We hit the ground, and hit it hard. I got up and groaned, rubbing the back of my head.

"Are you alright?" asked Dipper.

"Yeah," I said, weakly.

The manticore loomed over us again, and lifted another of its paws to deliver another mighty blow. A kill shot if I ever saw one. Dipper reached over quickly and grabbed my hand; we squeezed our eyes shut and braced ourselves for a blow that never came.

We opened our eyes and looked around in confusion. At the opposite end of the clearing, the manticore was fighting something. Something huge and black, with yellow eyes and eight horns.

The monster from the woods.

Before I could say or do anything, Dipper pulled me back by the hand he was latched onto. "C'mon, let's get out of here!"

"What about Greg!?" I cried, as I was pulled unwillingly through the forest.

"Well he obviously got away in time!" shouted Dipper. "Both those monsters will kill us if we don't, though!"

So we ran like our lives depended on it. Because they did.


	6. Chapter 6

I didn't think, I just ran. Holding onto Jamie's hand, I ran as fast as I could. I had to protect her, I had to make sure she was safe. Protecting people was what I did.

It was weird, how the manticore attacked us. Normally manticores would only attack if threatened, and we hadn't threatened this one.

I stole a glance behind me, past Jamie. I didn't see anything. "Okay, I think we're good to stop here," I said. "I don't think it's chasing us."

"Can we get somewhere safer than this clearing?" mumbled Jamie, not letting go of my hand. In fact, she had kind of a death grip on it. Her knuckles were white and my hand was numb.

"Sure, if you give me my hand back," I joked.

She dropped my hand quickly. "God, I'm sorry," she said, even quicker.

"It's all good," I chuckled. "C'mon, I know of a system of caves up here."

She followed me through the woods and into the caves. We didn't go very far, because we were using the flashlight on her phone for light, and she only had fifty percent battery left. We couldn't risk her phone dying and being lost in the dark.

"Where do these caves come out?" Jamie asked.

I opened my mouth to answer, but before I could, someone else did. "Right behind the Shack, actually. But I doubt you have enough phone battery to last you that long. Especially since you've been using a lot of data and the service out here sucks."

Jamie and I froze. Turning around, we were met with the pitch black of the cave, save for two yellow glowing eyes. The both of us screamed, and began to run. Running didn't last long. We were backed into a corner, no way out. I had somehow gotten turned around in the cave and had led Jamie down an incorrect passage, and now we were stuck and we were going to die. We were going to die.

The yellow eyes reappeared. "Honestly I'm a little insulted you don't know who I am," the owner of the eyes said.

I was too terrified to say anything, but Jamie replied, "You're the monster from the woods."

"You know me better than that, c'mon Jamester!" exclaimed the voice. Jamie and I both noticed that the eyes were no longer solid and glowing. Rather, they looked like two yellow, glowing, _human_ irises. "Shine the light on me again."

Jamie did as she was told, and in front of us stood Greg. "Greg!?" yelped Jamie. "You're the… the monster from the forest!? Actually, that makes a lot of sense now that you mention it, what when you sneezed earlier today and-"

"Okay, yeah, we get it," said Greg, as if he were hiding something. What happened when Greg sneezed?

"I don't," I said bluntly.

"I'm a demon," Greg supplied. When I looked at him in horror, he chucked. "The nice kind, don't worry."

"Is there a nice kind of demon?" I snarled. "The only demon I've dealt with was horrible."

"So… you know him…" said Greg quietly, more to himself than to us. After a moment, he said, "C'mon, let's get you two out of these caves and cleaned up."

As we walked back to the Shack, Greg as our guide instead of Jamie, the two of us were peppering the demon with questions.

Finally, I asked, "Why did you make us leave in the woods?"

Greg didn't say anything for a minute, and I knew he was mulling over his words, trying to pick the right ones. "I didn't… I didn't want you to find me out."

"Were you trying to hurt anyone?" I demanded.

"What!? No!" exclaimed Greg. "I protect Gravity Falls! I just don't need Gravity Falls to know that their guardian is a demon."

"Fair enough," said Jamie.

I gave him a quizzical look, which he didn't see because he was walking in front of me. "In all the dealings with demons that I've had, they don't have their own bodies. How did you come across a body that would allow you to remain its host for so long?" I accused.

"Wait, you think I'm possessing a body?" laughed Greg. "No, this is mine. I figured out how to create a human form."

"Wild," commented Jamie. She didn't seem very affected by this new information.

When we arrived at the mouth of the cave, Greg smiled and bid us farewell. Then, he simply disappeared, like how wizards apparate.

"Did Greg just apparate?" asked Jamie, staring blankly at the space where Greg had just been standing.

I nodded. "Yeah," I said. "Bill used to do it all the time. It was weird."

"Oh c'mon," she said. "From what Mabel tells me, you didn't interact much with Bill. Except for following him into Stan's mind, getting your body stolen, and Weirdmageddon. So 'all the time' is relative."

"And once again, you are right," I said, holding the back door of the Shack open for her.

"Did the mighty Dipper Pines just admit to being wrong!?" she said, feigning shock with her hands on her face and her eyebrows raising to impossible heights.

"Yeah well, don't get used to it," I laughed, following her inside.

"Yeah, don't get used to it," quipped Mabel, as she was ringing a teenage boy in a sweater and his seven year old brother up at the gift shop's cash register. "Wait, what are you getting used to, Jamester?"

"Dipper said that I was right, and he was wrong," Jamie chuckled.

"I didn't use those exact words," I griped.

"I'm gonna side with Jamie on this one instead," laughed Mabel, "if it means that Dipper was wrong for once."

"Hate you both," I muttered mockingly, tugging my cap down over my eyes.

Jamie promptly reached over and grabbed my hat off of my head. "Look, I'm Jipper!" she quipped, putting the hat on and going to stand with Mabel behind the counter.

Mabel made eye contact with me, and snorted, "Bipper."

I glared at her, and she just smirked. "I'm not even gonna ask," Jamie said, hopping up onto the counter. She promptly laid down, stretching out across the entire thing.

"Jamie, you're blocking the counter and I've got customers!" Mabel whined, pushing Jamie feebly.

"Hi," said Jamie, looking at the boy in the sweater upside down from where she was lying on the counter.

"H-hi," he said. He had brown unruly hair and was actually pretty cute.

"Hey, cute frog!" Jamie said, looking at the seven year old, who was indeed holding a large frog. "What's his name?"

"Jason Funderberker!" the seven year old crowed, holding the frog aloft.

"That's a right and proper name," Jamie observed, "for a frog."

"Wirt named him," said the kid, elbowing who I supposed was his brother. "Can we get ice cream now?" he asked, turning to Wirt.

Wirt nodded. "Yeah Greg, we can get ice cream." He turned to us. "It was nice meeting you," he said, after purchasing the snowglobe.

"Come by again soon!" chirped Jamie, waving as they left.

Whilst she was distracted, I nabbed my hat back, much to her chagrin. She let me know she was upset with this development by expressing her destain quite vocally, and might I add, quite colorfully.

Hat safely back on my head, I headed up the stairs. "I'm tired," I said. I'm calling it a night."

"It's only nine," Jamie complained.

"Yeah stay up with Jamie, Wendy, and I!" complained Mabel.

"Yuck, I'm outnumbered," I said, and walked out the door. I was too tired to engage in anything remotely conversational, and if Wendy was coming I was going to end up talking all night.

After marathoning You Can Dance with Mabel and Wendy (all Mabel's idea, I can assure you), I was totally beat. I decided to call it a night, and grabbing my jacket, I moved to go upstairs into the attic.

"Wait, where are you going?" asked Mabel.

"Bed," I replied, rubbing my eyes. "I'm tired, Mabes."

"That's fair," said Wendy. "I should probably head home, it's two in the morning."

"You guys are no fun," complained Mabel. "But I guess I'm tired too, I'm going upstairs with Jamie." She didn't end up going to bed for thirty minutes after I headed up and Wendy went home.

I walked up the stairs, and opened the door to the twins bedroom. Dipper looked up at me from his computer. "Hey," he said.

"Bag check for Dipper's eyes," I snorted.

He raised an eyebrow. "Bag check for Jamie's eyes."

"Okay, touche," I said, crawling across the floor to my makeshift bed of blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals.

Dipper put his computer away and looked over the edge of the bed. "If you want you can come lay up here," he offered.

"Score," I said, rising from the mound of stuffed creatures and clambering up onto Dipper's bed. He laid down next to me, and we were asleep within minutes.

Everything was white again. Oh no, I knew what this meant. "Show yourself!" I yelled, shaking my fist at the air.

"WELL, AREN'T YOU CUTE," said an overly familiar voice. "HOW'S IT GOIN, JIMBO?"

I turned around to see Bill Cipher floating behind me, about the size of a medium sized dog.

"It would be going a lot better if you would leave me the hell alone," I snapped.

"WHY? I LIKE YA, JAMESTER," protested Bill. He appeared at my shoulder and wrapped his arm around me. "YOU'RE SPUNKY."

"Yeah, well you're evil," I said, pushing him off of me.

"I'M NOT EVIL," he chuckled. "JUST A GUY LOOKIN TO HAVE SOME FUN. AND GRAVITY FALLS IS FULL OF FUN!"

"Yeah, well then go have your fun. But not in here," I snapped. "I don't like you."

"WELL THAT'S JUST PLAIN MEAN!" squawked Bill. "ALTHOUGH I SUPPOSE, NOT ENTIRELY UNMERITED." He turned around.

I said nothing, electing to glare at his back instead. I crossed my arms and rested most of my weight over my right leg.

"HEY, NO NEED TO GET TERSE. YOU MIGHT LIKE TO HEAR WHAT I HAVE TO SAY," Bill mused, turning around to face me.

"Highly unlikely," I growled.

He lifted his eyebrow to the side in a gesture that suggested if he had two eyebrows, only one would be lifted in a skeptical manner. "IS THAT SO? YOU DON'T HAVE ANY QUESTIONS FOR ME?"

"Why would I have questions for you?"

"I DUNNO, YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED ANYTHING WEIRD HAPPENING TO YOU LATELY? YOU HAVEN'T… I DON'T KNOW… FELT DIFFERENT?" he asked, circling my head.

I thought back a bit. I had been feeling different lately. Headaches were frequent occurrences, more so than they had ever been in the past. I also had experienced an expansion of my sixth sense. Normally I just had an infallible lie detector, but recently it had grown to near omniscience of my immediate surroundings. If I was in the Shack, I knew who was in the Shack, where they were, and what they were doing.

"Who wants to know?" I snarled, a little less confidently than I had hoped to sound. In fact, I sounded downright uneasy. Scared, even.

"JUST CURIOUS," Bill chuckled. "IF YOU EVER WANT TO KNOW THE TRUTH, I'VE GOT THE ANSWERS. AND I'M ONLY JUST A DEAL AWAY," he said, extending his hand for me to shake, engulfed in blue flame.

"I'll never make a deal with you," I growled, backing up.

"YOU SAY THAT NOW, JIMBO. YOU SAY THAT NOW."

 **A/N: I know I changed the way I type for Bill. I just wasn't feeling the bold font, and whenever I post stuff with his speech on Tumblr, I always use caps lock, so I decided to stick with that. Besides, Alex Hirsch said recently that Bill can only scream. Thanks for reading!**


	7. Author's Note

**Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated anything in a while. I've just been really busy with school, and catching up on some other projects. Not to mention I've been dealing with one of the most severe cases of writer's block that I've ever had to put up with, and it sucks. The story isn't over yet, however, I have big plans for the Pines, plus Jamie and Greg.**

 **Thank you for sticking with me.**

 **-Mason**


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